It's about time I posted this topic.

As many of you know, "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" is one of my all-time favorite movies. When I heard that Tim Burton was going to attempt a sequel, I was a bit apprehensive, as I thought "Willy Wonka" doesn't need to be remade!! But when I heard that Johnny Depp was going to play Willy Wonka, I said - hmmm - maybe this thing will be o.k.

Still a bit reeling from seeing what Tim Burton did to his less than stellar Planet of the Apes remake, I was willing to give this one a try. I saw it on Opening Day at the beach, while I was on vacation with my wife and daughter. Although it is a passable remake, it's still doesn't hold a candle to the original, IMO.

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp's "Willy Wonka" is too dark, creepy, quiet and uninspiring. I'll take Gene Wilder's "Wonka" over Depps' anyday! And didn't Depp's "Wonka" remind you a little bit of bizarre Michael Jackson at times.......... ughhh

But again, I don't think it was a total disaster. I liked the boy who played the new Charlie and the girl who played the new Violet. The new Mike Teevee got on my nerves a little bit (maybe he was supposed to). I thought the new Violet was more EVIL and spoiled than the new Veruca Salt - who I did not care for AT ALL - what a waste of a great character - boring. There's no topping Julie Dawn Cole's performance of Veruca in the original! Next to Gene Wilder and Jack Albertson's performances, her's was the next best in the original!!

Unlike Burton's "Planet of the Apes", I could actually rewatch this movie a couple of more times - so that's at least a small plus....

However, if I had to choose between the two film, there is no question in my mind that the original Willy Wonka with Gene Wilder and all the original kids is by far the superior film!!

What does everyone else think?

I'm with you, I prefer the original 1971 film with Gene Wilder than I do Tim Burton's version. Johnny Depp is already in trouble with many people here in the United States for his "less-than-patriotic" remarks about America(loosely translated, he made a big mistake for bad-mouthing his country), so I don't think he'll be back on the big screen any time soon.

Anyway, back to the subject of both the original and "un-imagining" that Tim Burton pieced together. The original will always surpass that terrible re-make.
From what I can Tim Burton has a nasty habit of remaking old pieces and embellishing them with darker shades and overtones. The original was not like that at all. And Johnny Depp's performance as Willy Wonka could best be described as the darker side of Gene Wilder's original version of the character. Or, Willy Wonka's evil brother. Either way, the re-imagining of the classic was terrible to say the least. Burton and the film company should have known better than to tamper with a children's classic. But, that's my opinion.

Hopefully, the people at Warner Brothers and Bryan Singer will take note of this. Like I said before, from an artistic viewpoint, a remake of Logan's Run and any other cinema classic would be disasterous box-office. Unless an act of God were to prevent that sort of thing from happening, there should be no remakes of any kind. Hollywood should start taking note of this and start doing fresh and orignal productions and quit remaking other filmmakers works.

Hi Logan and Francis. I just wanted to add my thoughts on Charlie and the Choclate Factory.

The original is of course my favorite, BUT I really did enjoy this film. It made me laugh at the quirkiness of it. Also, I went to see it, NOT as a re-make, but as an entirely different film. That helped me to overcome my tendency to compare.

That is also the way I choose to view a "new" Logan's Run movie. For me it will be a whole new film, not a remake a great old one.

Sometimes rose colored glasses aren't a bad thing. LOL :)

I liked the remake of charley and the chocolate factory better becuase, Johnny Depp is so cute and he is a great actor. :wub:


I think that the newer one was also a bit better because it had more color more enthusiam to look for! Why dont you like it better??? :dunno: